VOA常速英语2007-Ivory Coast Government Disagrees With UN Report

By Phillip Wellman
Dakar
16 October 2007

Officials from both sides of the coalition¹ government of President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel-leader turned Prime Minister Guillaume Soro in Ivory Coast have said they strongly disagree with a recent U.N. report that says the rival parties are failing to advance peace and reconciliation². Phillip Wellman reports from our West Africa bureau in Dakar.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is deeply concerned by the slow progress being made towards reconciliation in divided Ivory Coast.

In March, Mr. Soro became prime minister after signing a peace accord with Mr. Gbagbo that set a timeline for goals to be accomplished³ before the country's next presidential election. The election, originally scheduled for October 2005, was postponed⁴ twice through U.N. resolutions and is the overall aim of the peace accord.

The United Nations says that because targets such as army reintegration and identifying undocumented Ivorians continue to be missed, efforts at reconciliation could be undermined. It says the failure to meet targets is largely because Mr. Gbagbo's party and Mr. Soro's New Forces rebels disagree on the specifics of the issues.

But a spokesman for Mr. Soro's New Forces, Sidiki Konate, says the two sides of the coalition government are getting along fine.

"There is no problem between Force Nouvelle and President Laurent Gbagbo. Why should there be? They are working in the same government," said Konate. "We have to recognize that a lot of things have been done since Guillaume Soro was appointed Prime Minister in Ivory Coast. So I am not really sharing the viewpoint of the U.N."

The U.N. report says the identification plan that began on September 25 was later suspended due to a lack of adequate preparation by officials involved. Government officials have also been hesitant to go into rebel territory without more assurances of security.

Rebels took up arms in late 2002 saying they were fighting for undocumented Ivorians who were treated as foreigners and persecuted⁵ by security forces. This led to civil war and is why the country remains⁶ divided.

New Forces spokesman Konate says the current identification plan ran into a few complications at the beginning, but was never fully⁷ stopped and should start significantly progressing within a week. 

Analyst⁸ Gilles Yabi, of Brussels-based research organization International Crisis Group, says he believes that everyone in the coalition government wants peace for Ivory Coast, but says because of their current positions they are in no rush for elections.

"People from both sides, from Gbagbo's side and Soro's side, are in the government and have absolutely no personal interest in moving very quickly," said Yabi. "That means that while they probably agree on what to do and have no grave problems, at the same time, they have no sense of urgency because personally they hold positions and they have absolutely no threats to their personal interests both financially or politically."

Yabi says that despite what critics may say, it is still very important for the United Nations to keep a check on the Ivorian government until the next presidential election.

"That is why it is important for the international community to remain involved and to send some signals that it is not just because Gbagbo and Soro signed an agreement that they designed themselves that means that they should have a free hand to conduct the peace process as they like," added Yabi.

An independent electoral commission recently said that the presidential election could take place by October 2008.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

3 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

4 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

5 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。